Am I A Good Candidate For Breast Augmentation By Fat Injection?

Q: Dr. Eppley, I want a Breast Fat Transfer with PRP procedure. I had 2 children 4 years apart. I breastfeed each child for 1 year. I lost a lot of breast tissue while breastfeeding. I want to regain the fullness and also firmness I once had before breastfeeding. 

A: Thank you for sending your picture. Unfortunately you are not a good candidate for breast augmentation by fat transfer for two specific reasons. First you lack adequate fat to harvest for the procedure. Using the 50% rule in fat injection augmentation, 50% of the aspirated volume removed by liposuction is lost by pre-injection concentration, then what is left is divided in half because there are two breasts to inject and then assume only 50% of the fat will survive. To put that into perspective let’s assume you could harvest 2,000ccs from you (which is a big assumption), after concentration 1,000ccs is left in which 500cc is injected into each breast of which 250ccs will survive. (the equivalent of a very small breast implant or the same volume as a glass of water) Secondly, although your breasts are covered and does not reveal how much loose breast tissue you have or whether you have any sag…which I suspect you might), a 250cc volume addition is not going to adequately replace a lot of breast tissue loss and is not going to fill them up or make hour breasts firm.

Breast augmentation by fat injection works best in the patient who only wants about a 1/2 cup size volume fill and has good breast skin with little to no sag. Your current breast shape and goals can really only be met by conventional implant and/or lifting procedures in my opinion.

Dr. Barry Eppley

Indianapolis Indiana